xii, 278 pages : 24 cm

"Urban sprawl - low-density subdivisions and business parks, big box stores and mega-malls - has increasingly come to define city growth despite decades of planning and policy. In Perverse Cities, Pamela Blais argues that flawed public policies and mis-pricing create hidden, "perverse" subsidies and incentives that promote sprawl while discouraging more efficient and sustainable urban forms - clearly not what most planners and environmentalists have in mind. She makes the case for accurate pricing and better policy to curb sprawl and shows how this can be achieved in practice through a range of market-oriented tools that promote efficient, sustainable cities."--Publisher description

Includes bibliographical references (pages 238-269) and index

The price of sprawl -- Sprawl: a planning problem -- The costs and benefits of sprawl -- The costs and benefits of planning -- How do our cities grow? Plans versus reality -- Prices drive sprawl -- Municipal services: costs and prices -- Network services: costs and prices -- Housing, infrastructure, and energy: more mis-pricing and mis-incentives -- Driving sprawl: pricing and policy mis-incentives -- Principles for a market-oriented approach -- A toolbox of market-oriented instruments -- Perverse subsidies, perverse cities

plus-circle Add Review

comment

Reviews